 Rev. Matthew J. Hook |
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Millionaire in Poverty
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During the Depression, a man named Yates owned a sheep ranch in west Texas. Because he did not earn enough money to make his ranching operation pay, Mr. Yates was in danger of losing his ranch. His family, like many others, had to live on government subsidy. As he grazed his sheep on the rolling hills of west Texas, he no doubt worried about how he would make ends meet. Some surveyors approached Mr. Yates and asked permission to dig a wildcat well. He signed a lease, and they drilled. At 1100 feet, they struck a huge oil reserve, and that first well gave over 80,000 barrels a day. Many subsequent wells gave more than twice that much. The ranch was literally on top of a black gold mine. Mr. Yates owned it all the day he purchased the land and received the oil and mineral rights of the property. He was a multi-millionaire living in poverty. The problem was, he did not know the oil was there. He owned it, but he did not possess it. What a tragic, but accurate, example of the Christian life. The moment we accept Christ into our lives, we become children of God. We become heirs of God, and all of God's divine supernatural resources are made available to us. It's as if we were adopted by a king. Everything we need - including wisdom, power, and love to be men and women of God - is available to us. The problem is, most Christians (and most of us) continue to live in self-imposed spiritual poverty because we do not know how to appropriate from God those spiritual resources which are already ours. We lack the power for living the abundant life. Not because we own it, but because we don't possess it. Without the Spirit of God, as exemplified through the power of the Resurrection, we are dead. Many of us are dead long before we are buried. Many of us today are simply busy corpses running around, trying to look alive. Have you felt that? The world has an answer: fix the outward appearance and you will be fine. It is on some channel of the TV every minute: just lose that weight, gain that muscle, whiten those teeth, replace that hair, wear those name brands, and you will be fixed. Cover up the fact that you are a corpse. The problem with that is that we wind up looking no better than Beetle Juice. Even we Christians fall for the trap of outward appearances, when the faith that we follow says: "He is not a corpse. He is not here. He is risen!" We can be raised to new life, not just a new make up for our old lives. In our scripture, Paul expresses a fervent prayer for the believers in Ephesus. The theme of Paul's prayer is for the Christians there to know Christ personally and to experience the divine power of God daily. Paul included us in his sweeping request that all God's people might experience Him as present, filling "everything in every way." Think of this prayer relating to yourself and those around you. Do you need:
Every Christian needs this! The ironic thing is that Christians live in unnecessary defeat. Billy Graham says 90% of Christians live frustrated lives, by living out of touch with God and his resources for their lives. Most Christians are living like millionaires in poverty. I spent time with a woman earlier this week who had all the money in the world, but had not one person, including her family, whom she could call on. She was lonely and sick, and had no one else to turn to but the church. She had a beautiful home, beautiful jewelry and furniture, but she spent no small amount of time talking with me about how she has to hide it from her caregivers. In the moments of reflection that were a part of our conversation, she made the statement: "Money doesn't do you any good if you can't get to it. You can't eat it. They only help me because they know I have money. They're all wondering what the will says." It was one of the saddest situations I've seen. She was like a millionaire living in poverty. How different it was from the week before, when we were with Shelia and Larry Berry, the couple whose house we worked on. They, who had 10 kids and not much money, were millionaires. They were full of life. They were full of God's promises. They were full of a future. They felt part of God's plan. They had a purpose for each day. It wasn't easy for them, and God had brought them through some difficult times. But despite the fact that they were living in poverty, they were millionaires. They had claimed the resurrection power of Jesus Christ. Shelia shared with some of us. "I have power. I have the Spirit of God in my life. I have the authority of Christ invested in me. Satan tries to convince me that I have nothing, but honey, I'm the richest one on the block." Once she realized that she needed a change, she began to pray. She claimed Paul's prayer for her life. Maybe you are a millionaire living in poverty. Listen to how Shelia's life changed. Do you need this, too? As she began to pray and claim God's promises for her life, here's what happened:
The work for Shelia and Larry, and I believe for you and me today, is not to discover anything new about God, but to claim what God has already done. To claim the victory of Jesus Christ in our lives as the only way to overcome whatever is going on around us or in us. By prayer, by submitting our wills to Jesus, by living our lives out of that prayer and that resurrection power, we can get off of the world's millionaire track and start living out God's million dollar plan. As children of the King we have been given life. We've been given new life. Isn't it time to claim that new life resurrection power of Jesus Christ, that we might live the life God meant for us? Let's live in the power of Easter the rest of today, tomorrow, and every day God gives us. Let us give praise to God for the power and blessings that await us! Amen!
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